daily life.28 They changed their daily life by valuing child
care. This finding was consistent with the consequences
of being a mother and a student changed their activities
according to their values of motherhood of which
their child was the first priority.24
All adolescent mothers faced the challenge of
combining being a mother and a student. The majority
of them expressed that the child was their motivation
to perform many roles simultaneously because they
wanted to achieve life-long success for themselves
and their children. Similarly a study of Clemmens 25
found that the child was the adolescent mothers’
motivation to return to school and adapt to multiple roles
to attain educational goals and professional goals.24, 28
In addition, Thai adolescent mothers got social support
from their family to help them adapt to multiple roles.
This was consistent with previous studies that found
social support influenced the process of transition to
parenthood of adolescent mothers.35, 36 Social supports
can promote successful adaptation in adolescent mothers
and their children15, especially the adolescent’s mother
who was the major support source 35, 37, the father of the
child37, 38, and friends, subsequently.
First-time Thai adolescent mothers created
strategies used to deal with multiple roles during
childrearing and studying in order to achieve balance
in life. The strategies used were adjusting to new
identities, adapting lifestyles, coping with the new
roles, and asking for supports. These were similar to
four adaptive modes of the Roy Adaptation Model 22
that were self-concept, physiological, role-function,
and interdependence adaptive modes, respectively.
Limitations
The majority of the participants were from a
low-income bracket and all lived in Songkhla Province.
Moreover, the recruitment could not specify certain
characteristics such as age, the level of education and
marital status. Therefore, the findings may not be
applicable and transferable beyond this group.